Allow children the power of prayer

Our president offered the “love and prayers of a nation.” Prayer is a powerful force. What can we do for our children? We can consider ways to restore the privilege of prayer in our schools.

-- Peggy Rhoads,
Hamilton

Gun culture is to blame

I am writing in response to the letter (“Arm the people who have charge of our kids,” Dec. 18). The writer advocates for arming our teachers and says “don’t blame the gun, blame the finger that pulled the trigger.”

The children in Newtown, Conn., were killed by bullets fired from a high-capacity, semi-automatic weapon that tore through their small, innocent bodies and ripped them apart. Without that weapon, the massacre could never have happened. To say that the gun used was not responsible is sheer lunacy.

What is going on in America is not OK. We need more gun control. Only someone in severe denial would look at the mass shootings that occur on a regular basis in this country and disagree. But not only do our gun laws have to change, the way Americans view guns has to change.

Countries that have fewer guns have fewer deaths. That is a fact. We must challenge the gun culture in America and change the way we view gun ownership. We have done this before with smoking, drunk driving and so many other things. It is time we do the same with guns. We owe it to our children.

-- John DeMasi,
Trenton

There was evil at first Christmas

Many of us can identify with the Newtown, Conn., teen who said, “It really doesn’t feel like Christmas anymore” (“Newtown finding its way forward,” Dec. 19). How can we even say “Merry Christmas” in the face of such events?

Maybe we need to reconsider what Christmas is. If we strip away Santa and Christmas parties and go back to the beginning, we find mass murder of children right there in the Christmas story. In Matthew 2, we read that King Herod ordered the death of children around Bethlehem under the age of two, trying to destroy the “King of the Jews.”

The message of Christmas is that God knows all about such evils and has begun a process that will set things right. Laws, education, mental health care have their place in restraining evil, but evil is bound up inside each of us; only God can eradicate it without destroying us in the process.

The Scriptures say that Jesus was born because God so loved the world that he was willing to enter this world and suffer evil himself, being put to death as a criminal. This began the process of dealing with sin and evil. The next step is for each of us to respond to Jesus Christ in faith.

-- Richard M. Peterson,
East Windsor

Gems sparkle at Academy Street library

With all the bad news and publicity about what doesn’t work in the City of Trenton, I was reminded a few days ago about what does work.

I had occasion to visit the Academy Street library. I was trying to find a Time magazine article on a World War II airplane crash — a family member was one of the crew. The crash occurred sometime in 1943. After presenting my problem to Pat (in Reference) he did a quick look-up and asked Bob (also in Reference) to find the elusive article. Literally, before I could say, “Bob’s your uncle,” I was presented with the original Time magazine and there on page 66 was the story about how the crew crashed, survived and was rescued 13 days later. Since I am copy-machine challenged, Bob assisted me in getting a perfect copy of the story that now sits in my file.

Courtesy and service have always been standard fare in the Trenton library system. It was refreshing to see that, with all the Sturm und Drang (stress and strain) the city has endured under the present administration, the qualities of courtesy, service and professionalism remain like an oasis in the desert. Thank you Pat, Bob and all the members of the City of Trenton Library System — you’ve helped my family and me to have a very Merry Christmas.

-- Stephen S. Benner,
Hamilton

End gun violence now

There is no logical reason for anyone besides the military or the police to own a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle. Period.

Owning, collecting and shooting such instruments of death are simply a perverse hobby, and any hobby that results in anyone being able to tear apart the bodies of 6-year-old children should not be a constitutional right. This should be the end of the argument, and in a saner country it would be.

And yet, here we are, the week before Christmas, enduring the image of Jack Pinto, a 6-year-old boy whose body suffered the insult of .223 caliber shells, buried Monday in his Victor Cruz Giants No. 80 jersey (“Newtown holds first funerals for shooting victims,” Dec. 18), and many more funerals since then (“Shattered Newtown tried to make sense of tragedy — Heroic teacher, 3 first-graders are laid to rest,” Dec. 20).

I am the father of three school-age children and I have had enough. We must put an end to this. Everything must be on the table.

-- Matthew A. Scott,
Cranbury

NRA policies go too far

Gun advocates say, “Don’t blame the gun, blame the finger that pulled the trigger.” Please remember that it is the gun that kills, not the finger. Some gun advocates suggest that our teachers and school officials should be armed. I assume they also think that the recent massacres at shopping malls, movie theaters and places of worship would have been prevented if mall officials, theater ticket sellers and church representatives would have also all been armed with guns. Gun proponents’ idea seems to be to give everyone guns.

I am a gun owner. I have been a hunter for many years. At one time, I was a member of the NRA. I resigned my membership many years ago, as I believe it became more radical and irresponsible over time. I firmly believe in the Constitution, which says we have the right to bear arms, but nowhere does it say that the general public is entitled to military-style weapons. The gutless politicians need to stand up to the NRA and not allow automatic and semi-automatic weapons, armor-piercing bullets and multi-round magazines in the hands of the public.

If we allow the NRA to continue dictating gun policy, we are then agreeing that the Newtown massacre and the massacres at Aurora, Tucson, Milwaukee, Virginia Tech, Columbine, etc. are a part of our everyday life with guns and we have to accept all massacres as normal. There have been too many gun-related massacres over the past few years and they are going to continue as long as the present gun laws are in place.

We can have reasonable gun ownership in this country but not to the extremes advocated by the NRA and other gun organizations.

-- Ken Scott,
Yardley, Pa.

Students wired to their cell phones

The letter “A call for barring cell phones at school” (Dec. 12) in regard to electronics and cell-phone use in school is spot on!

I have been teaching in Mercer County for 23 years, and I believe that electronics are a tremendous problem in our school building. I would like to know what the policies are in other schools and districts.

Students today are addicted to their phones and truly believe no one can take them from them